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Sugar Boiling
There are several degrees in boiling sugar from clarified syrup to caramel. The process requires not only care but an experience which can, perhaps, only be expected from a confectioner. Recipes are given for boiling sugar to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth degrees. These are the principal gradations, and they are further divided by professional persons. When great nicety is required, the condition of the sugar can be best ascertained by a saccharometer, which is an instrument constructed for the purpose of determining the exact condition of preparations of this nature. The finest sugar only should be used in confectionery. It is really the most economical, as common sugar wastes much more when it is being clarified. Sugar, to Clarify.--Break the sugar into large lumps, and put it into a delicately-clean preserving-pan. Allow a pint of water to each pound if it is for syrup; if for candying less than half that quantity will be sufficient. The white of one egg will also be required for twelve pounds of sugar if it is refined; for six pounds if it is coarse. Beat the white of egg lightly; stir it into the water, and pour the mixture upon the sugar. Let it stand until dissolved; then stir it well, and put it upon a gentle fire. Do not disturb it after the scum begins to form. Let it boil for five minutes; take it from the fire, let it stand for two minutes, and carefully remove all the scum. Set it on the fire again, and when it is about to boil up throw in a little cold water, which has been reserved for the purpose from the quantity originally measured. Boil till the scum forms again; draw it from the fire, let it settle, then skim it as before, and repeat this operation till the syrup is quite clear. If it is not properly cleared it will rise over the pan when it is boiled to a height. Strain the syrup through muslin, and it will be fit for use or for further boiling. To prevent waste, the scum should be laid on a sieve, and any syrup that runs from it should be boiled up again. First Degree, named Candied Sugar.--Take the sugar clarified as above, and put it again on the fire. Let it boil till smooth. Dip the hand for a moment in cold water to keep it from being burnt; take from the skimmer a drop of the syrup, press it quickly, draw it apart, and if it forms a brittle thread it has attained the first degree.
Second Degree, named Souffle, or Blown Sugar.--Boil the candied sugar still longer. Dip in the skimmer, shake off the sugar, and blow strongly through the holes of the skimmer. When the sugar forms into bubbles it has attained the second degree.
Third Degree, named Feathered Sugar.--Boil the blown sugar still longer. Dip the skimmer again in the pan, shake it, then give it a quick toss. If the sugar flies off like down or feathers it has attained the third degree. Fourth Degree, named Crackling Sugar.--Boil the feathered sugar a short time longer. Dip a stick in the sugar, and plunge it instantly into cold water. If the sugar that hangs to the stick becomes instantly hard the sugar has attained the fourth degree. In making this experiment the cook must be careful that the water in which she tries the sugar is perfectly cold. If it is not she may be misled. If the sugar is intended for barley-sugar, a little grated lemon or essence of lemon should now be added, and the sugar should be poured upon a broad dish; and when the edges begin to harden it should be divided into strips and twisted. If there is any fear that the sugar will grain or return again to powder a little lemon-juice may be added. Fifth Degree, named Caramel.--Boil the sugar until when a little is put into cold water it hardens instantly and snaps like glass. Squeeze in a little lemon-juice; let the sugar remain one minute longer on the fire, then, if it is wanted for sugar spinning, set the pan in another of cold water, and the caramel will be ready for use. Care should be taken that the fire is not very fierce when the sugar is being boiled, for if it flames up at the sides of the pan it may burn and spoil the sugar. Spun sugar is a pretty ornament for sweetmeats, and may be made of sugar prepared as follows. Moulds of a suitable size and form should be oiled with almond oil, and then with a fork the sugar should be spread over them in fine threads of chain or network. These moulds will look very pretty if placed upon an iced cake, and they can be used several times if they are carefully handled. One way of performing this really difficult operation is to tie two forks together with the prongs outwards, dip them lightly in the sugar, take them out, and shake them backwards and forwards over the oiled moulds or whatever else is to be covered. The manufacture of spun sugar belongs rather to the skill of the confectioner, however, than to that of the cook.
This is the sugar-boiling ladder that underlies nearly all boiled sweets, and the only piece of it that has genuinely been superseded is the testing. A digital or clip-on candy thermometer does in one glance what the finger, skimmer and stick tests do by feel.
- Skip the clarifyingModern granulated and cane sugar is already refined to a purity Victorian "finest sugar" could not match, so the egg-white raft, the repeated skimming and the reserved cold water are all unnecessary. Dissolve sugar in water over gentle heat, wash down the pan sides with a wet brush, and proceed.
- Saccharometer means thermometerSaccharometer is not a thermometer -- The instrument named here measures the density of a syrup, not its temperature, and it is of little use once the syrup passes the early stages. Work by temperature instead, and calibrate the thermometer in boiling water first; roughly every 1,000 feet of altitude lowers the figures below by about 2F.
- The five degrees in numbersFirst degree (thread) is roughly 223-235F; second (soft ball) about 235-240F; third (firm to hard ball) about 245-265F; fourth (soft to hard crack) about 270-310F; fifth (caramel) 320-350F, where the syrup colours. The fit between the old names and these figures is approximate. Up to the crack stages the difference is simply how much water is left in the pan; at caramel the sugar itself begins to break down and change chemically.
- Do not test with your fingersThink twice about testing with your fingers -- The instruction to dip the hand in cold water and pinch a drop of syrup was common in older books, and the risk is obvious: hot syrup sticks to skin and goes on burning. Use a thermometer, or drop a little syrup into a bowl of cold water and feel it there.
- Cold water for the drop testThe warning about water that is not "perfectly cold" is sound. Water that has been warmed by earlier tests will keep a hard-crack sample pliable and read it as ball stage; change the water between tests.
- Why the lemon juiceAcid inverts a portion of the sucrose, which is what stops the batch seizing into grain. A teaspoon of lemon juice or a tablespoon of glucose syrup per pound of sugar does the job; add it early rather than at the end, since inversion needs time and heat.
- Heat managementThe advice about flames licking the pan sides holds on a gas hob. Use a heavy pan wider than the burner, and lift the pan into a bowl of cold water — or straight off the heat — the moment you reach temperature, because sugar carries on cooking for several degrees after.
- Barley sugar and spun sugarBarley sugar poured at crack stage sets in a few minutes, so score and twist the strips while the dish is still hot to the back of the hand. Spun sugar needs a dry room; on a humid day the threads go limp within the hour, which is one reason it was usually made shortly before serving.
The five degrees are English renderings of the French confectioner's ladder -- lissé, perlé, soufflé, boulé, cassé, caramel -- a scheme long established in French confectionery writing and repeated, with local variations in the number of steps, in later cookery books. The book is unusually candid about the division of labour: sugar boiling and spun sugar belong "rather to the skill of the confectioner" than the cook. Cheap sugar lies behind the chapter at all: the British sugar duties were abolished in 1874, and by the end of the century refined loaf and granulated sugar were within reach of ordinary households. The instruments tell the same story of a trade professionalising -- the saccharometer was a brewer's and refiner's tool that filtered down into confectionery before the cheap dial thermometer replaced it.